Typical Richmond winter. You go the first 12 weeks or so without nary a hint of white flaky stuff, and then at the tail end of the season you get hit with back to back storms seemingly out of nowhere. Today on my morning off I woke up to the sounds of George crying to be let out to pee at 6:30. Despite the fact that I had stayed at the hospital until 9 the previous night, I happily bounded of bed to let him out, because SNOW :)

After another hour or so of snooze time, I woke up for real. After coffee R and I took the dogs on a long walk around the neighborhood. This snow it a lot wetter than the last one, and since it's warmer outside it makes for pleasant walk. We stopped at Starbucks for hot cocoa (where George shamelessly flirted with strangers, I swear if you want to make friends get a puppy, you will talk to literally everyone you see, because everyone wants to pet an adorable puppy when they see one) then strolled through the St. Catherine's campus (I grew up as a Richmond Catholic school kid with only pavement for our "grounds" so I am still awe struck by the university like settings of the private schools near us).

Once we got home George was ready for a rest :)

With the pups asleep I set off for a little snow playtime of my own with a 4 mile run. Sadly halfway through the slush had completely soaked my feet and my ITB was starting to act up, but the run was still made lovely by the snowy surroundings.

We stopped at the Grill on Patterson for our snow day lunch and I downed a cup of brunswick stew, a chef salad(with ranch ( I never order ranch on salads anymore because of stupid adult mindfulness of fat and calories, but a snow day just seems to call for the extra heft), and of course a tall draft beer. There is no replacing my early 20s hangout of Joe's Inn on a snow day and their pitchers of mimosas, but for a more adult but still relaxed snow day spot, the Grill works pretty well.

And to make the day even better, I finally watched the series finale of Parks and Recreation. What a sweet, generous show that was and it ended in exactly that spirit, with absolute kindness and love for its characters and fans. I generally prefer shows where it's obvious that the writers like the characters. I know that sounds silly but some shows and movies show such evident disdain between the writers and their fictional creations. That writing can still be brilliant and very good, but I can never really love it. Girls is a good example. And I like Girls. But there's so much bite there that it feels more like a satire. Parks and Rec is the opposite of that kind of writing, just the farthest thing from mean spirited. And its ending gave me ALL THE FEELINGS. I will miss Leslie and the rest of the gang dearly.

Now I'm off to get ready for Southbound tonight. I've been dying to try it and am very excited to go to a local, buzzed about restaurant south of the river. Bring on more of those Richmond. The burbs don't have to be all Olive Garden and Rockfish Grill and whatever other restaurants that you can find in any city in the country.

Definitely will report back about the experience.

In the meantime enjoy the rest of your day (snowy or otherwise) everyone :)